On July 6, 2021, Catharine Keely Anagnost formerly of River Vale, New Jersey and Ocean Point, Maine, passed away peacefully at the Allendale Community Center for senior living in Ramsey, New Jersey.

Catharine, affectionately known to family and friends as Kitty, is survived by her husband of 68 years James Anagnost, also a resident of the Allendale Community Center. Other immediate surviving family members are daughter Alexandra, her husband James Theriault, and grandchildren Stacy and Spencer of Belgrade, Maine; son Alan and wife Linda of Milford, Pennsylvania, grandchildren Grace Anagnost, Jason Randlett, Jason's wife Katharine, and great grandchildren Eleanor and Fiona; son Robert and friend Kim of Ocean Point, Maine. Catharine's first son, James Bradley, passed away in an automobile accident in 1983.

Catharine was born in Charlestown, West Virginia on Sept. 7, 1929, the daughter of Robert Archer Keely and Catharine Potter Keely. After the tragic death of her father in a swimming accident, she was raised by her maternal grandparents in Florida and Connecticut and graduated from high school in 1946 and from Mary Washington College (Fredericksburg, Virginia) in 1950 with a degree in chemistry. After spending a few years working in the health care technology field in Connecticut, she met her life's soul mate, James, and was married on May 13, 1953.

Catharine and James lived in numerous places and eventually made their home in River Vale, N.J. where they raised their family and resided for the next 60 years. While New Jersey was Kitty's primary residence, her emotional and life sustaining home was Ocean Point, where her family summered for many, many years. It was in the summer of 2015 that Catharine proudly celebrated her 80'th summer in her beloved Bayview Cottage. Numerous family gatherings, barbecues, and long walks along the beautiful Maine coast sustained her soul. Her love of Ocean Point instilled within her a desire to create and co-author a book dealing with a history of all cottages and families within the Ocean Point Community. This effort was published in 1991 and titled "An Historical Survey of Ocean Point Architecture" (A Walking Tour of a Maine Summer Community) by Catharine Keely Anagnost and Harold A. Pinkham Jr., Ph.D. Her research and writing led to numerous and joyful interactions and conversations within the community she loved.

Kitty was also a passionate patron and advocate of the arts. She loved visiting museums of all types and was a lifelong member of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, City. One of her favorite activities was to take children and grandchildren on museum walking tours to share in the magnificent treasures from the past. She was very well read on various aspects of the arts and loved to share this knowledge with family and friends.

Another important passion for Kitty was her lifelong genealogical study of her family's past as she spent years researching both paternal and maternal family trees. In scouring various town offices, town libraries, and church archives, she was able to track her family lines back to the 1600s. This was done long before Ancestry Dot Com was available to the public. She was immensely proud of her family history and loved sharing stories with family, friends and anyone interested in the topic of genealogy.

In the end, she was an interesting person who unashamedly lived life on her own terms.

At Catharine's request, she will be buried next to her mother in Glenville, New York where the immediate family will gather for a private graveside ceremony later this year.